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> if someone from the team steps up and adds a lot of value that is expected from a co-founder, we will definitely promote the person as a co-founder How can s

> if someone from the team steps up and adds a lot of value that is expected from a co-founder, we will definitely promote the person as a co-founder How can someone get the title of a cofounder of an already (at least) 2 years old company which is already set up an running? I understand that traditionally this person then represents in investor meetings, but why does it need to be a _founder_ title of something that was founded long ago?

CalChris 4y ago
Agreed. To me, a co-founder is anyone pre-money. Anyone post-money is an employee.
- konfusinomicon 4y ago
  I'm a co-founder, with the current CEO and one other guy who retired, and have always been on the engineering side of the business. at first, the engineering department was me, and support. I was super green back then and was pretty lucky to be at the right place at the right time and as such, the company grew far faster than myself. I have many superiors now, which is cool with me as I've continued learning and growing professionally by observing them. going from me and 2 other guys to late series C has been a priceless experience, and it's nice to have the title. but oh my, the spam email and phone calls I get from having it on my LinkedIn profile is beyond annoying. many assumptions are made by companies advertising to co-founders, mainly that im C level and involved in sales. I struggle to calculate the total cost of all the sales guy time spent targeting me but I can safely say atleast a low end Lamborghini could have been procured if it was all pooled together.
  - anakaine 4y ago
    How have you found it starting as a co-founder and now having to report to others? For me personally, I don't think I'd have grown as graciously as you seem to have articulated that you have. I'd like to ha e retained a strong semblance of direction and control in the company as a co-founder.
    - konfusinomicon 4y ago
      it has been extremely challenging at times, especially the times where my voice fell upon deaf ears and the wrong direction was taken. ultimately every mistake, your own or otherwise, is a learning experience, and every success is just the same. for the most part though, I am involved quite a bit in the technical direction we are taking, so i dont feel as if ive been completely pushed out. I've now lived through several leadership shakeups and kind of glad that the stress of knowing the board could axe me at any time is mostly not on me. my historical knowledge of the system and domain alone is enough to guarantee job security and my compensation remains competitive given that chances like this are extremely rare, I've committed to riding it out to liquidity or the ship sinks, and learning as much as I can until then.
matchagaucho 4y ago
"Founder" is not a title you can add casually under US law. It's determined at the time of incorporation and stock issuance. QSBS, and other legal structures, do not allow transferability of "Founder" to follow-on Investors and employees.
- Kranar 4y ago
  This is completely untrue and it's very unfortunate that you'd make such an easy to verify false statement with such certainty and reflects very poorly on the overall quality of discussion.
- navaneethpk 4y ago
  I might be wrong here but "Founder" is just a title and it has nothing to do with law or investors. Adding another "Director"/"Officer" requires some paperwork though.
  - bfung 4y ago
    You’re correct. I’m not a lawyer, but went through doing own startup: It varies in incorporation requirements by state, but most only require 2 titles positions - a President and a Treasurer (the “Officers”) Adding or removing a Director, as in “Board of Directors”, requires amendment to the Corporation’s bylaws, which should state how many seats there are. Aside from those titles/roles, all the “C” prefixed titles are made up. Usually, one C level person is the President, another the treasurer. Co-founders are usually on the board of directors. Many times, a single person can be on the board, a co-founder, and ceo.
- Ozzie_osman 4y ago
  I don't think QSBS has anything to do with founder titles specifically, but I'd love to be corrected. Anyone who with stock that is QSBS eligible gets the exemption, whether they are a founder, investor, employee, etc, and it's more about the eligibility (ie you paid for the stock, you didn't acquire it on a secondary transaction, the business was <50M, etc). Whether your title is founder or not doesn't really matter.
dilyevsky 4y ago
Some startups now retrofit co-founder title to employees as recruiting tactic. Part of the overall title inflation trend I presume. I’ve seen some extreme examples where there are dozens of “co-founders” on the roster.
KptMarchewa 4y ago
Elon Musk

CalChris 4y ago

Agreed. To me, a co-founder is anyone pre-money. Anyone post-money is an employee.

konfusinomicon 4y ago
I'm a co-founder, with the current CEO and one other guy who retired, and have always been on the engineering side of the business. at first, the engineering department was me, and support. I was super green back then and was pretty lucky to be at the right place at the right time and as such, the company grew far faster than myself. I have many superiors now, which is cool with me as I've continued learning and growing professionally by observing them. going from me and 2 other guys to late series C has been a priceless experience, and it's nice to have the title. but oh my, the spam email and phone calls I get from having it on my LinkedIn profile is beyond annoying. many assumptions are made by companies advertising to co-founders, mainly that im C level and involved in sales. I struggle to calculate the total cost of all the sales guy time spent targeting me but I can safely say atleast a low end Lamborghini could have been procured if it was all pooled together.
- anakaine 4y ago
  How have you found it starting as a co-founder and now having to report to others? For me personally, I don't think I'd have grown as graciously as you seem to have articulated that you have. I'd like to ha e retained a strong semblance of direction and control in the company as a co-founder.
  - konfusinomicon 4y ago
    it has been extremely challenging at times, especially the times where my voice fell upon deaf ears and the wrong direction was taken. ultimately every mistake, your own or otherwise, is a learning experience, and every success is just the same. for the most part though, I am involved quite a bit in the technical direction we are taking, so i dont feel as if ive been completely pushed out. I've now lived through several leadership shakeups and kind of glad that the stress of knowing the board could axe me at any time is mostly not on me. my historical knowledge of the system and domain alone is enough to guarantee job security and my compensation remains competitive given that chances like this are extremely rare, I've committed to riding it out to liquidity or the ship sinks, and learning as much as I can until then.

matchagaucho 4y ago

"Founder" is not a title you can add casually under US law. It's determined at the time of incorporation and stock issuance. QSBS, and other legal structures, do not allow transferability of "Founder" to follow-on Investors and employees.

Kranar 4y ago
This is completely untrue and it's very unfortunate that you'd make such an easy to verify false statement with such certainty and reflects very poorly on the overall quality of discussion.
navaneethpk 4y ago
I might be wrong here but "Founder" is just a title and it has nothing to do with law or investors. Adding another "Director"/"Officer" requires some paperwork though.
- bfung 4y ago
  You’re correct. I’m not a lawyer, but went through doing own startup: It varies in incorporation requirements by state, but most only require 2 titles positions - a President and a Treasurer (the “Officers”) Adding or removing a Director, as in “Board of Directors”, requires amendment to the Corporation’s bylaws, which should state how many seats there are. Aside from those titles/roles, all the “C” prefixed titles are made up. Usually, one C level person is the President, another the treasurer. Co-founders are usually on the board of directors. Many times, a single person can be on the board, a co-founder, and ceo.
Ozzie_osman 4y ago
I don't think QSBS has anything to do with founder titles specifically, but I'd love to be corrected. Anyone who with stock that is QSBS eligible gets the exemption, whether they are a founder, investor, employee, etc, and it's more about the eligibility (ie you paid for the stock, you didn't acquire it on a secondary transaction, the business was <50M, etc). Whether your title is founder or not doesn't really matter.

dilyevsky 4y ago

Some startups now retrofit co-founder title to employees as recruiting tactic. Part of the overall title inflation trend I presume. I’ve seen some extreme examples where there are dozens of “co-founders” on the roster.

KptMarchewa 4y ago

Elon Musk